I was working through some content for the membership and got to the sales aspect....the ick feeling came out immediately. Don't you find it interesting how some people have no shame pushing everything they can into a sales offer and then you have other people that are so turned off by those tactics that they undervalue themselves?
I'm not sure why I'm quite so viscerally turned off by salespeople. But I feel it deep in my gut- as soon as I feel a sales pitch coming, it's an immediate turn off. Maybe it's because they seem so confident that whatever they're selling is going to be THE answer to whatever the problem is and yet, it never is. I find it even more annoying in person because you can see through their façade of kindness that they only see you as potential dollar signs.
The other thing is that we're inundated with sales pitches daily. If you took a look at my inbox at any given moment, you'd easily find 20 or more new ads. I unsubscribe & report spam often & yet they still seem to get in.
And yet, for all time, people have been exchanging goods as a means to provide for their families. The concept of money was supposed to simplify it, so that you didn't have to figure out the exchange rate of a cow for some wheat. But as a society we seem to have gone astray from simply having what we sell as an offer into billboards & flashing lights so desperately vying for our attention.
Back to the point...
Those of us that are opposed to being salesy run the risk of never reaching our true potential. It doesn't matter if you have a better product or are more talented than the person next to you. The louder more confident salesperson will get the sale, almost every time.
"Motivation will almost always beat mere talent." –Norman Ralph Augustine
When I started selling on Etsy, it was easy. There wasn't a sales pitch. I simply entered the information and if people want it, then they buy it. That's perfect for me. Over the years though I've had people tell me that if I showed more of who I am that I could sell even more. That people want to know that they're buying from a real person and even more than that, they want to buy from someone that is genuine and kind and goodhearted. I've found that this is true.
And guess what, I still find it hard. I'm willing to show you behind the scenes and tell you some of my personal vulnerable stories, but not to get a sale. I do it so you can see yourself, so you can see how I do things and overcome things and know that you can do it too.
I've been working on pricing my membership lately and I've gone round and round on this with friends, family, & people in the membership host community. One of the "rules" with pricing is that you can price higher if your service will help people make money. One of the other truths is that if I price it too low that people won't believe that it has as much value as it does. And yet, I created it for the little guy. I created it for the small business owner or side hustler that is just trying to make their place in this complicated marketplace. And I can tell you- just from how much it is costing me to host membership content to share, that the costs add up.
"When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are." –Oprah Winfrey
So how do we get out of our heads and out of our own way to be willing to offer a product or service without feeling gross? I'm not sure I have this one fully figured out. For me, it starts by being willing to put my designs on a product and list them for sale. I've grown past calling my business "my little Etsy shop" which was clearly me playing small. (If I framed my business that way, then people wouldn't expect much from me.)
I know the value I provide. And I will always be the take it or leave it kind of person. I always care more about the person than any potential sale. And I believe that the more of me I show, the more that will shine through.
Warmest regards,
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